Friday morning headlines

Pixar backdating?: WSJ reports that Pixar head Steve Jobs (he's also Apple's CEO in his spare time) helped negotiate an employment contract with animated-film director John Lasseter that included a large stock-options grant with an especially well-timed date. Other Pixar options have had grant dates at suspiciously low levels. Pixar is now part of Walt Disney, which is conducting an internal probe into how Pixar handled its options grants, and the feds in SF are said to be looking into the matter, too. Jobs has potential backdating issues of his own. WSJ

Subprime panic: Lots of hand-wringing this morning over New Century Financial, the big Irvine-based mortgage lender, disclosing that it would report a fourth-quarter loss and restate results for the previous three quarters because of accounting errors. Also, HSBC Holdings PLC says problems in its subprime-mortgage business were worse than previously thought. The big concern is that high-risk borrowers will have no place to get their loans and face foreclosure. This could also have nasty ripple effects throughout not only the mortgage lending business, but among the huge financial institutions that handle mortgage-backed securities. Reuters WSJ

Tribune avoids proxy battle: The deadline for nominating directors to the company's board passed last night without the Chandler family putting forth any of their own folks, knocking down earlier rumbles about the family trying to get more seats. The Chandlers now have three of the 11 board seats - not enough to have much impact. The Chandlers have made a bid for the company, but no one seems to believe it'll go anywhere. WSJ

Gas shoots up: Higher oil prices and the transition by refineries to more expensive summer-blended gas are said to be the culprits. The Auto Club survey has the average price of self-serve regular gasoline in the Los Angeles-Long Beach area at $2.559, which is 7.1 cents higher than last week, eight cents lower than last month, and five cents lower than last year.

Is there a "Borat" sequel?: News Corp. Chairman Rupert Murdoch announced to the world on Thursday that there would be a sequel to last year's surprise hit starring Sacha Baron Cohen. But 20th Century Fox, which is owned by News Corp., says nothing has been finalized (can you imagine the leverage that Cohen now has?). LAT

Johnny Rockets is sold: Dan Snyder, owner of the Washington Redskins and operator of Six Flags, is buying the 1950s-inspired diner chain for what analysts say could be in the $500 million range. Snyder, who tends to think - and talk - big, would like to open 1,000 new Johnny Rockets in the next five years. “There’s no reason we shouldn’t have 15 or 20 Johnny Rockets in Dubai,” he said. You might recall that Johnny Rockets, which is now based in South Orange County, started in 1986 on Melrose Avenue. NYT

Living wage, encore: It's not much different from the first living wage proposal for LAX-area hotels that the L.A. City Council passed and which local business groups threatened to take to the voters. An 11th-hour deal had the council agreeing to some modifications, but apparently there aren't many changes. The new measure would require the dozen area hotels to phase in the higher wages, but it also promises $1 million for street improvements and $50,000 for marketing the area. Daily News

Law firm news: L.A.-based Gibson Dunn & Crutcher said it hired M&A expert William Candelaria as a partner in NY. He was previously a partner at Mayer, Brown, Rowe & Maw. Also, Anne Marie Gagnon, who had been executive director of Morgan Stanley’s alternative investment group, was named partner at Santa Monica.-based hedge fund Voyager Management.

Larry King buys house: He's paying just under $12 million for a five-bedroom, Tuscan-style home in Bev Hills that's been on the market less than two weeks. Some specs: 10,000-square-feet, built in 1989, skylit foyer and a master suite with a sitting room and twin bathrooms. There is also a two-bedroom guest house. Sellers are Thomas and Kathy Mendoza (he's president of a Sunnyvale data-storage company). WSJ